It has been a turbulent time for Iga Swiatek this season. Following her shock third-round Australian Open exit, the World No. 1 bounced back to win the Qatar Open. However, she has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. In her ongoing semifinal encounter at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, a shocking incident took place.

Swiatek lost her cool and smashed the racket hard on the court. The intensity of the smash was so high that she lost the racket from her hand. Subsequently, she was handed a warning for racket abuse. The incident took place while things weren’t going Swiatek’s way as she looked frustrated with her performance.

It is quite unusual for Iga Swiatek to lose her temper on the tennis court. Usually a cool-headed player, Swiatek often lets her game do the talking. But on this occasion, it was her violent reaction that caught the eyeballs.

Things weren’t going Swiatek’s way against Anna Kalinskaya in the semifinal encounter. She lost the first set 6-4 and was up a break in the second set. A silly mistake cost a point to Swiatek in the second game of the second set when she vented out her frustration by smashing the racket hard on the court.

DIVE DEEPER: ‘Might Hurt Me’ – Iga Swiatek Gets Real About a Harsh Reality in Tennis and How She Deals With It During the Peak Season

It has not been the greatest of starts for Iga Swiatek this year. The World Number 1 was expected to deliver big at the Australian Open but failed to live up to the hype. She once reasoned out her slow start to this season.

Iga Swiatek feels the pressure of being World No. 1

The Polish tennis star has been under pressure since last season as things haven’t gone her way. During an interview a few months ago, she made a candid confession about what went wrong for her.

She said, “I just preferred to focus on other things, because the pressure related to the No. 1 spot was a bit overwhelming in the middle of the season. For this reason, I didn’t play very freely until the US Open, and then I knew that I just had to change this attitude and approach the next tournaments differently, just be a different player who didn’t focus on all those things.”

Swiatek has bowed out of the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, losing against Kalinskaya in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Despite this disappointing display, Iga Swiatek will look to come back strongly at the Sunshine Double in the United States next month.